Your Petitioners, RANDY C. BANCROFT, a citizen of the Unit States and a resident of the State of Colorado, whose residence and mailing address is 2837 Perry Street, Denver, Colo. 80212; MICHAEL D. ZINANTI, a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of Colorado, whose residence and mailing address is 4147 Ingalls Court, Wheat Ridge, Colo. 80033; KENNETH T. LAWSON, JR., a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of Colorado, whose residence and mailing address is 1249 James Circle, Lafayette, Colo. 80026; SHANNA CARROLL FRENCH, a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of Colorado, whose residence and mailing address is 4432 South Beech Way, Morrison, Colo. 80465; and BLAINE R. BATEMAN, a citizen of the United States and a resident of the State of Colorado, whose post office address is 593 Juniper Court, Louisville, Colo. 80027, pray that Letters Patent may be granted to them for the improvement in
As set forth in the following specification.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a compact, multi-band planar antenna for wireless communication devices such as cellular telephones, PCMCIA cards, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art
For a given physical size and set of antenna performance parameters, such as gain and antenna pattern, multi-band antennas have often been of lower performance than single band antennas of the same size, or conversely have been physically larger than single band antennas of the same performance. Additionally, multi-band antennas have often been more complex in structure than single-band antennas, hence multi-band antennas have been of higher cost than single band antennas. In many cases where multi-band antennas have been applied the multi-band antenna impedance characteristic is not matched to 50 ohms at all the desired bands, hence requiring a matching network to be used in conjunction with the multi-band antenna. In many applications, a multi-band antenna is desired of the same size, cost, and simplicity of a single-band antenna. The need for planar antennas has been well-described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,157,344, 6,249,254 and 6,037,525. Thus, there is a need for planar, multi-band antennas which have the advantages of a planar antenna such as in the ""344 patent but that operates at two or more frequencies and are no larger than the antenna of the ""344 patent. In particular, the telematics market desires a dual-band antenna for the two primary network frequencies (e.g., 860 MHz [AMPS] and 1920 MHz [PCS]).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,307,525 pertains to a multi-band antenna which combines elements of a design of U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,157,344 and 6,249,254 with a multiplexer capable of separating the RF energy based on frequency. While the antenna of the ""525 patent performs exceedingly well and has been successfully commercialized, it is relatively large and in general is larger than the area of the antennas which it replaces. Further, the introduction of the multiplexer circuit introduces some losses which reduce the gain of the antenna in the ""525 patent, and in some cases, the patterns of the antenna radiation are affected by the presence of the multiplexer. The main advantage of the antenna in the ""525 patent is the single port and the planar shape thereof.
A planar antenna is described which comprises a dielectric substrate fabricated from a commercial PCB laminate or other materials, and a radiating element formed on one side thereof which is formed in the shape of a right triangle or related shape. A slot extends into the radiating element from one side thereof. In some embodiments, a ground plane is provided on one or both sides of the substrate.
It is therefore a principal object of the invention to provide a compact, multi-band planar antenna which is small enough to be used in most applications.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a compact, multi-band planar antenna which is small enough to be used in most applications without sacrificing gain, pattern and bandwidth performance.
A further object of the invention is to provide a compact, multi-band planar antenna which includes an antenna element in the form of a right triangle or related shape.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a compact, multi-band planar antenna which is less expensive to manufacture than certain other planar antennas.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.